We’ve come a long way since 2015, but in that four years, Bloodstained took the Metroidvania genre and... did it about as well as the standards of a modern Metroidvania. It’s not really revolutionary but fans of the genre will get a kick and a half out of it. The highlight of Bloodstained is the metric dick-load of weapons and special abilities. A variety of weapon types that (mostly) play differently from each other and magic shards that grant unique powers, be them summons, elemental magic, weapon conjures, buffs, familiars, etc.
While the amount of shards on their own don’t entice me enough to play the game again, the variety will keep future playthroughs fresh. You’re likely to find a favorite set, and with the quick select menu later in the game, the ball is in your court.
Visually the game looks alright. I wouldn’t say it’s downright ugly (unless you’re on Switch) but there’s an intense amount of visual filters and glossiness on damn near everything from the character models to environments. But hey, at least it’s not pixel graphics.
The soundtrack is pretty good. A couple bangers but mostly moody tracks that I wouldn’t go out of my way to listen to.
The bosses are quite a spread. They range from piss-easy to “Hey, that took a couple tries” to “If you don’t mass stock up on items, you won’t win.” Some boss fights are so unique in their patterns and variety of attacks that it often felt like I was playing a 2D Dark Souls.
The difficulty curve is pretty wack. I struggled at the beginning with how underpowered I was, breezed through the middle, and hit bumps at the end.
The biggest problems with the game are story and backtracking. The story is meaningless. I felt no attachment to any character and found myself speeding past longer dialogue exchanges. This isn’t an egregious mark against the game, since the story mainly exists to move Miriam along from one part of the castle to the next, but for as much emphasis it seemed like the game was putting on the story, I cared not one bit. Second, the backtracking. This is a problem with the Metroidvania genre as a whole, and Bloodstained suffers from it. There are plenty of save points and fast travel warp rooms around the castle, but I often found my destinations far from the nearest warp rooms. The backtracking is the worst part of Bloodstained because it just feels like filler time until the game flow continues again. There really should’ve been a shard later in the game that let’s you fast travel to area entrances/exits and save rooms.
There’s a handful of challenging bosses in the post-game, including the secret last boss which grants you the ultimate power.
The last thing I wanna note is how polished the game is. Not visually or aesthetically, but how the two are intertwined with the game’s mechanics. There’s almost a Nintendo level of polish with so many little details and moments that go a long way.
Bloodstained didn’t turn the Metroidvania genre on its head, and SteamWorld Dig 2 remains my easy favorite in the genre, but Metroidvania fans can give a cheer with Iga back in business and with free DLC on the way.
While the amount of shards on their own don’t entice me enough to play the game again, the variety will keep future playthroughs fresh. You’re likely to find a favorite set, and with the quick select menu later in the game, the ball is in your court.
Visually the game looks alright. I wouldn’t say it’s downright ugly (unless you’re on Switch) but there’s an intense amount of visual filters and glossiness on damn near everything from the character models to environments. But hey, at least it’s not pixel graphics.
The soundtrack is pretty good. A couple bangers but mostly moody tracks that I wouldn’t go out of my way to listen to.
The bosses are quite a spread. They range from piss-easy to “Hey, that took a couple tries” to “If you don’t mass stock up on items, you won’t win.” Some boss fights are so unique in their patterns and variety of attacks that it often felt like I was playing a 2D Dark Souls.
The difficulty curve is pretty wack. I struggled at the beginning with how underpowered I was, breezed through the middle, and hit bumps at the end.
The biggest problems with the game are story and backtracking. The story is meaningless. I felt no attachment to any character and found myself speeding past longer dialogue exchanges. This isn’t an egregious mark against the game, since the story mainly exists to move Miriam along from one part of the castle to the next, but for as much emphasis it seemed like the game was putting on the story, I cared not one bit. Second, the backtracking. This is a problem with the Metroidvania genre as a whole, and Bloodstained suffers from it. There are plenty of save points and fast travel warp rooms around the castle, but I often found my destinations far from the nearest warp rooms. The backtracking is the worst part of Bloodstained because it just feels like filler time until the game flow continues again. There really should’ve been a shard later in the game that let’s you fast travel to area entrances/exits and save rooms.
There’s a handful of challenging bosses in the post-game, including the secret last boss which grants you the ultimate power.
The last thing I wanna note is how polished the game is. Not visually or aesthetically, but how the two are intertwined with the game’s mechanics. There’s almost a Nintendo level of polish with so many little details and moments that go a long way.
Bloodstained didn’t turn the Metroidvania genre on its head, and SteamWorld Dig 2 remains my easy favorite in the genre, but Metroidvania fans can give a cheer with Iga back in business and with free DLC on the way.